Golf playing harness



'R. DE R. BROUWER GOLF PLAYING HARNESS' Filed March 4-, 1955 Oct. 8,1957 INVENTOIL RODGER De R. BROUWER 241% YJ/JAM AT T ORNEYS,

United States Patent Ofiice 2,809,043 Patented Oct. 8, 1957 GOLF PLAYINGHARNESS Rodger De R. Brouwer, Bristol, Conn.

Application March 4, 1955, Serial No. 492,071

4 Claims. (Cl. 273-189) This invention relates to a novel golf playingharness constructed to be worn by a golf player to improve his drivingtechnique. It is known that an experienced golfer largely drives with acombined body and wrist action which consistently results in a hard hitball and long drive, wherein an inexperienced golfer more commonly alsoincludes a free arm movement which results in less power and lessaccuracy. This latter stroke is quite nat ural and the golfer must learnto eliminate the free arm movement and concentrate on the body and wristcombination if he is to secure the longest and most accurate drives. Theprimary object of my invention resides in the production of a novel golfplaying harness that will aid the golfer to employ and quite naturallyadopt this improved stroke.

My invention contemplates a golf harness including a member secured tothe golfers shoulder, a second member secured to the adjacent arm of thegolfer and means so connecting the members that the arms are permittedfree up and down movement but substantially no lateral movementindependently of the body. Thus the arms are so united with the bodythat all must swing or pivot as a unit during the stroke. In this mannerthe stroke is backed up by the body swing which results in maximum powerand accuracy. The production of a golf playing harness of this naturewhich will aid golfers to acquire the most powerful and efficientdriving strokes comprises a further object of the invention.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood andappreciated from the following description of a preferred embodimentthereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in theaccompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a golfer employing the invention,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the harness in playingposition on the golfers shoulders, and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view of a modification.

The harness shown in the drawing comprises a substantially rigid strapor bar of steel or other suitable material of a length to extend acrossthe shoulders of a player. Means such as straps 12 are employed tosecure the bar in this position on the shoulders. One end of the bar isbent laterally forwardly or downwardly as illustrated in the drawing anda second bar 14 is pivoted thereto at 15. The bar 14 is disposed toextend along the adjacent arm of the player and a strap 16 is employedto secure this bar to the arm. The pivot axis at is substantiallyparallel with the bar 10 and is disposed to permit pivotal movement ofthe arm but substantially no lateral movement independently of the body.

When wearing the harness and holding a golf club for the stroke, asillustrated in Fig. 1, the players two shoulders and hold grip on theclub form a triangle ABC. Since lateral movement of the armsindependently of the body is not permitted, this triangular relation ismaintained during the entire stroke as illustrated at AB'C'. Thus on theforward stroke the body follows through with the arms as a unit andresults in maximum power and accuracy. Swinging movement of the armsindependently of the body destroys this triangular relationship andresults in loss of both power and accuracy as above described.

My golf harness forces the player to pivot or swing his body and arm asa unit and compels him to eliminate free swing of the arms independentlyof the body. Thus when the driving wrist motion is added to the bodyswing a maximum powerful blow is driven at the ball and maximum accuracyand distance are attained. By using the harness the player eventuallyacquires the unit body stroke as his natural swing with or without theharness and is able to play consistently good golf at all times.

As will be apparent, the harnessed arm should not bend at the elbowduring the stroke and the strap 16 can be disposed below the elbow toaid in maintaining this rigid arm relation, or a second strap 16 can beadded to the extended bar 14 as illustrated in Fig. 3.

Having thus disclosed my invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. A golf playing harness comprising two rigid members, means forsecuring one member in fixed relation to one shoulder of a golf player,means connecting the other member thereto for sole up and down pivotalmovement about an axis extending transversely of said other member, andmeans for securing said other member to the adjacent arm of the player,the last named means being of a length to span the elbow of saidadjacent arm and prevent bending of the arm at the elbow.

2. A golf playing harness comprising a substantially rigid bar of alength to extend across the shoulders of a player, means for securingthe bar in such position on the players shoulders, a second rigid barextending forwardly from the first bar and pivoted to one end thereoffor relative movement about an axis substantially parallel to the firstbar, and means for securing the second bar to the adjacent arm of theplayer.

3. The golf playing harness defined in claim 2 in which the first namedbar has said one end bent laterally and in which said pivoting of thesecond bar is to the laterally bent end of the first bar.

4. A golf playing harness comprising two rigid members, means forsecuring one member in fixed relation to one shoulder of a golf player,means connecting the other member thereto for sole up and down pivotalmovement about an axis extending transversely of said other member, andmeans for securing said other member to the adjacent arm of the player,thereby eliminating lateral movement of said arm independently of theplayers body.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

